Mayor plans to reach out to Washington to remove funding restriction

Mayor Mark Mallory is working to thwart an effort by
Cincinnati’s own U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) to prevent federal
funding from being used to construct a streetcar in the city. Chabot
offered an amendment on June 27 to the 2013 Transportation and Housing
Urban Development spending bill that would bar federal transportation
money from being used to design, construct or operate a “fixed guideway”
project in Cincinnati.

Mallory called Chabot’s move “nothing but a political stunt.” Mallory today said in a press release that he is reaching out to
legislative leaders in both the U.S. House and Senate to remove the
amendment. Mallory said he’s also making calls to the White House.

“Steve Chabot seems determined to stop progress in Cincinnati,” Mallory
said in the release. “He seems determined to make sure that other parts
of the country thrive, while Cincinnati is left in the past. That is not
the kind of leadership that we need in Washington, D.C..”

The city has procured a $25 million federal Urban Circulator Grant. That
funding would not be jeopardized, as the Chabot amendment would only
apply to federal funding for fiscal year 2013.

The U.S. House approved the amendment on a voice vote. To become law, it
would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president.

“Far from a necessity, the Cincinnati streetcar is a luxury project that
our nation and our region simply cannot afford,” Chabot said during
testimony on the House floor.

Some opponents of the amendment worry that it could prevent funding for other transportation as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, fixed guideway
refers to any transit service that uses exclusive or controlled
rights-of-way. That means the ban on federal funding to those modes of
transportation could apply to ferryboats, designated bus or carpool
lanes and aerial tramways in addition to streetcars.
Chabot’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. (Andy Brownfield)

I killed a spider today with astringent. I didn’t know you could kill spiders with astringent until today. But there it was, chilling in my bathroom while I was taking a piss. My first instinct was to douse it with some kind of liquid, and barring the source of liquid currently in my hands, the only other thing within reach was a bottle of astringent sitting on the bathroom sink.

Compares his policies to Clinton; Romney to Bush

Just two days before the general election, President Barack Obama
made his case to 13,500 people packed into the University of Cincinnati’s Fifth
Third Arena and 2,000 in an overflow room.

Obama cast the race in comparisons to the previous two
presidents, comparing his policies with those of Bill Clinton and equating Republican
challenger Mitt Romney’s plans with those of George W. Bush.

“So stay with me then,” Obama said. “We’ve got ideas that work,
and we’ve got ideas that don’t work, so the choice should be pretty clear.”

With less than 48 hours before polls open on Election Day,
a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll had Obama and his Republican challenger locked
in a statistical dead heat. However the same poll showed Obama with a slight
edge in Ohio, up 48 percent to Romney’s 44 percent.

Obama touted his first-term accomplishments, including ending the
war in Iraq; ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy preventing homosexuals
from serving openly in the military; and overhauling the country’s health care
system.

“It’s not just about policy, it’s about trust. Who do you trust?”
the president asked, flanked by a sea of supporters waving blue “Forward”
signs.

“Look, Ohio, you know me by now. You may not agree with every
decision I’ve made, Michelle doesn’t always agree with me. You may be
frustrated with the pace of change … but I say what I mean and I mean what I
say.”

Nonpartisan political fact-checker PolitiFact on Nov. 3 took a
look at Obama’s record on keeping his campaign promises from 2008. The group rated
38 percent as Kept, 16 percent Compromised and 17 percent Broken.

Twice during his speech the president was interrupted by audience
members shouting from the stands.

The first was a man on the balcony level of the arena
interrupted, shouting anti-abortion slogans and waving a sign showing mutilated
fetuses before being dragged out by about five law enforcement officers. Both were
drowned out by supporters.

Music legend Stevie Wonder opened the rally for Obama, playing a
number of his hits, opening up “Superstition” with a refrain of “on the right
track, can’t go back.”

Wonder discussed abortion policy between songs and urged Ohioans
who had not already voted to do so either early on Monday or Election Day.

So far, 28 percent of Ohio voters have already cast their
ballots. CNN reports that those votes favor Obama 63/35, according to public
polling.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Romney campaigned before an estimated crowd
of 25,000 in Pennsylvania, according to the Secret Service.

Political rallies always draw a number of the loyal opposition,
and this late-evening appearance was no different. Only five people protested
near the line to the arena, but what they lacked in number they attempted to
make up for in message.

One large sign read “Obama: 666” and another “Obama is the Beast,”
alluding to a character in the Christian Biblical book of Revelation.

A man who only identified himself as Brooks carried a large
anti-abortion sign that showed pieces of a dismembered fetus.

“I’m here to stand up for the innocent blood that has been shed
in this land to the tune of 56 million,” Brooks said. He said he was opposed to
the politics of both major party presidential candidates.

“I pray for Barack Obama because his beliefs are of the
Antichrist, just like Romney,” Brooks said.

Brooks said his message for those in line was for them to vote
for Jesus — not on the ballot, but through their actions and through candidates
that espoused Christian beliefs.

“Obama is not going to change things, Romney is not going to
change things,” Brooks said. “In the last days there are many Christs, but not
the Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible is not for killing children,
is not for homosexual marriage.”

On Jan. 27, President Obama gave his State of the Union Address and reminded the nation of what his administration was fighting for. Among his many promises to strengthen the economy and tighten security measures against terrorism, was an effort to work with Congress and the military over the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a law that currently bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military.

An estimated 3,000 people attended today’s latest “Tea Party” protest at Fountain Square, this time commemorating Tax Day, and a CityBeat writer and photographer were there to capture the event in all of its sordid glory. [See the photo slideshow here.]

Penalty threatened because too few recipients shifted to paying jobs

For the past month, Romney-Ryan and crew have been busy
accusing President Obama of eliminating welfare-to-work requirements.
You can hardly miss the campaign commercials that claim Obama has taken
the “work” out of welfare reform. But what we haven’t heard is that
state officials in Columbus are getting squeezed by the Obama
Administration because Ohio failed to move enough people off public
assistance programs into real jobs. The feds contend the state has
mismanaged welfare reform since 2007.

It is former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration getting blame for not being aggressive with the work component.Now Ohio is desperately trying to dodge $136.2 million in penalties for failing to shift welfare recipients into the workforce.Next
week, Republican Gov. John Kasich’s administration plans to spend
nearly $500,000 on a consultant to help clean up Ohio’s mess. Public
Consulting Group Inc. of Boston is in line to get the $499,642 contract.
That company says the welfare to work reforms suggested by the Obama
Administration in July — the waivers denounced by Romney-Ryan — could
actually help get more people off assistance and into jobs.

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), notified Ohio of its
failure to meet the performance threshold of fifty percent (all
families) and ninety percent (two parent families) for TANF work
participation for FFY’s 2007, 2008, and 2009.These
notifications carried potential penalties of $32,758,572 for FFY 2007,
$45,050,074 for FFY 2008 and $58,517,487 for FFY 2009. Ohio’s current
corrective compliance will require Ohio to completely correct the
violation by meeting the work participation threshold during the current
FFY 2012. Failure to do so will result in a reduction of Ohio’s State
Family Assistance Grant (i.e. TANF) of $32,758,872 …”

State officials said the consultant would do analysis to
increase work participation rates “in accordance with federal
requirements.”Nobody is suggesting that work participation requirements be ended.

The consulting firm says it knows how to help a state win a
waiver, which is an alternative way to assist TANF recipients into the
workforce. The waivers are what Romney and Ryan have denounced as
killing welfare reform. (So far, Ohio hasn’t asked the consultant
directly to develop a waiver plan.) But the consultant Ohio is hiring is
clear that waivers don’t end work requirements and they could actually
help achieve better employment outcomes.

“The Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
recently issued a challenge for states to develop and test new and
innovative strategies that will improve employment outcomes in the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program,” the consulting
firm says. It sees the change as opening up “thoughtful and innovative
approaches that connect TANF participants to jobs in a more effective
and less administratively burdensome way.”

Again, the consultant being hired by the Republicans at
the Statehouse in Columbus doesn’t say Obama is gutting welfare reform.
The consultant says, “The waiver authority specifically allows states to
test new ways of helping achieve better employment outcomes within the
TANF program by offering flexibility on how work requirements and work
participation are defined, administered and measured.”

Nearly two years after the economic meltdown in fall 2008, the U.S. Senate voted Thursday to approve a sweeping financial reform bill aimed at the reckless Wall Street investors who caused the crisis.

The Senate voted 60-39 to pass the reforms sought by President Obama. Three Republicans — Scott Brown of Massachusetts, along with Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine — joined Democrats in supporting the bill.

Senator announces support for gay marriage two years after son comes out

Terrace Park isn’t the likeliest of neighborhoods for
Cincinnatians to mingle with diverse groups of people, so it wouldn’t be that
surprising if Sen. Rob Portman maybe didn’t have much experience interacting
with gay people before his son came out two years ago.

But boy what a difference a gay son and two years of
reflection make.

Portman had to prepare his own coming out speech yesterday,
this one to his GOP senatorial brothers and sisters, none of which support
same-sex marriage. Imagine how nervous he must have been, sleeves rolled up,
flag pin hanging slightly askew as he spoke to reporters in response to the
op-ed he published supporting gay marriage. If he stuttered at all it’s not
because he wasn’t earnest — he just really loves his son.

Two years ago Portman’s son, Will, was a freshman at Yale when he came home and explained that being gay “was not a choice,” which seems
to have resonated with Dad. Portman consulted with religious leaders and other men
who have been anti-gay even though they have close family members who are
homosexual, like former Vice President Dick Cheney, who probably said something
like, “Dude, it doesn’t matter anymore now that Obama is talking about queers
in the State of the Union and shit. Roll Tide.”

Portman explained his new found interest in respecting
millions of fellow humans this way: "[I
want] him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have
— to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years.”

Portman says he would like to see congress overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, a
redundant and discriminatory piece of legislation banning federal recognition
of gay marriage, which he helped pass in 1996. But he still doesn’t think the
federal government should tread on the states and make them recognize it if
they don’t want to.

Meanwhile,
in Washington Harbor, Md., Republicans at the Conservative Political
Action Conference yesterday discussed their bigotry during a panel called
"A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition." The featured speaker
was Jimmy LaSalvia, whose Republican gay-rights organization GOProud wasn’t
allowed to sponsor the conference.

While gay-rights leaders celebrate the support and the
possibility of other powerful Republicans realizing that they know and care about
someone who is different, the announcement brings attention to other
conservatives trying to remove yuckiness from the party’s official stance on
homosexuality and gay marriage.

Jon Huntsman, a GOP presidential candidate in 2012 who had endorsed civil
unions, said this year that he supports marriage rights. Furthermore, he framed
it in conservative terms.

"There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the
ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love," he
wrote.

And Theodore Olson, a former solicitor general for President George W. Bush,
has been one of the lead attorneys challenging California's Proposition 8, a
ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage in that state. (Portman fretted in
his op-ed that a court decision might hamper the political movement toward
legalizing gay and lesbian weddings.)

And Fred Malek, a Republican power-broker, told NBC News this week that
conservatives shouldn't feel threatened by gays and lesbian couples who wish to
marry.

"I've always felt that marriage is between a man and a woman, but other
people don't agree with that," he said. "People should be able to
live their lives the way they choose. And it's not going to threaten our
overall value system or our country to allow gays to marry, if that's what they
want to do."

Nearly a quarter of Republicans reportedly support same-sex
rights, leaving the door open for plenty more GOP leaders to search for gay family
members on Facebook who might offer insight inspirational enough to frame their
own stories of new found compassion and respect for other people.

If its findings are accurate, a poll released this week should embarrass and shame Republican politicians and party leaders. It probably won’t, though, because if we’ve learned anything about the GOP in the past 20 years is that it can be pretty shameless.

The Ohio Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against Gov.
John Kasich — who they claim is improperly using his office to campaign
for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney — to get the
governor to release his schedule of public events.

The ODP’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Franklin County
Court of Common Pleas, contends that Kasich’s office either ignored or
only partially fulfilled the request.

“It’s unfortunate that this Governor is so opposed to
transparency and public disclosure that we have to ask the Court to
force him to follow the law,” ODP Chairman Chris Redfern said in a
statement.

“Serious questions remain regarding whether the Governor
has improperly used his office for the benefit of Mitt Romney, and it’s
deeply disappointing Kasich is so secretive he won’t even tell the
public what he’s done or where he’s gone.”

“We release public records in accordance with the law, and
in fact have already publicly released the governor’s schedule six
times, including a schedule request to the ODP,” Nichols said.

“This is predictable election year politics from the same
people who were just rebuked for using public records demands to
interfere with the Auditor of State’s investigation into possible data
manipulation in some school districts.”

Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Jerid Kurtz said Kasich’s
office did respond to one of the seven requests for the schedule, but
some of the information in the records was redacted — including an
entire week that was blacked out with no explanation.

“Ohio law is very clear, and it states you have to give a specific excuse when you redact something,” Kurtz said.

According to the lawsuit and court documents, the ODP
requested on July 2 Kasich’s public schedule from that date through Aug.
27.

According to a letter to the Ohio Democratic Party from
Mehek M. Cook — assistant chief counsel to Kasich — the information
about the governor's future plans was blacked out because that information
could put him at risk.

“The governor and his office receive threats on any given
day and the release of his whereabouts increases security issues
surrounding the governor’s safety,” Cook wrote.

Cook wrote that any information in the records used by the
Executive Protection Unit assigned to guard Kasich constitutes a
security record and was redacted.

He also wrote that some information that would reveal
confidential business meetings and trade secrets that would harm Ohio
efforts to court businesses was blacked out. Additionally, information
not relevant to the request was redacted.

Kurtz said it’s important that the public have access
those schedules because voters have a right to know what their governor
is doing on the public dime.

The schedules include where the governor is and with whom
he meets, but they also show scheduled phone calls and media interviews.

The Ohio Democratic Party worries that Kasich is
improperly campaigning for Romney while receiving a taxpayer-funded
paycheck, or using public money to have his staff do so.

The concerns stem from statements made by Kasich both in
public and on his Twitter account either praising the presumed
Republican presidential nominee or slamming President Obama.

For instance, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported that when Obama visited Ohio on Aug. 1 the governor tweeted “On
the occasion of the President's latest visit to Ohio, we have a
question for him,” with a link to a graphic asking “If the President's
policies are behind Ohio's success, why is the rest of the country
trailing us?”

Democrats claim that Ohio’s success relative to the rest
of the country are due to efforts by President Obama, while Republicans
say Governor Kasich is behind Ohio’s faster-than-average recovery.

While the Ohio Democratic Party is suing to have Kasich
release his public schedule (Kurtz says Attorney General Mike DeWine and
Auditor Dave Yost complied with similar requests in a timely manner)
the state Republican Party has also submitted similar requests to
Democrats throughout Ohio.

Kurtz characterized the GOP requests as being sent by
Kasich’s “hand-picked lieutenants in the Ohio Republican Party,” though
Nichols told The Plain Dealer that the governor had no involvement.